Hugs and Kisses
by Moonlight Shadow4
Summary: (Seperated other one shots). Inu-Yasha has hurt Kagome, deeply this time, because of a hug between he and Kikyo. Kagome's thinking of returning home.For good. What will our hanyou do? [original upload: July 14, 2003]


_Disclaimer: _No, I do not own Inu-Yasha and co. Rumiko Takahashi does. This is a one-shot fic I wrote on some scratch paper when I wished I could make Inu-chan eat plaster…. (I'm not a Kikyo/Inu-Yasha fan.) Anyways, enjoy.

_Hugs and Kisses_

                A hug. It was a simple hug.

                Yeah, right. That hug held secret passion and meaning he thought, or hoped, Kagome didn't see.

                Oh, she saw. She saw it, all right, whether he meant for it or not…she had….

                This time, seeing Inu-Yasha and Kikyo hugging beneath the Goshinboku was just too much.

                _Geez, the way the hug…. It looks like the last of hug of life—oh, wait! That's because Kikyo is DEAD! Urg, that stupid jerk… Kagome thought, pushing past her friends, who merely gazed at her with shared sorrow. __Under our tree too…. Inu-Yasha, you jerk…. A tear trickled down her rosy cheeks. _I…don't think my heart can stand this sight anymore…._ "No more," she whispered, going unhindered to the Bone-Eater's Well. _

                _As always, Kikyo's body is cold, and still somber…. I guess she was like this when she was alive, too…stoic to the rest of world. Inu-Yasha hugged the dead priestess tighter, subconsciously trying to remove the ever-present death chill. He breathed in gently, taking in her scents, and all the other around. He froze. "Huh?" _Kagome…she isn't nearby anymore…. Is she ok? _A little voice in his head countered, __Of course not, dumb fuck, you're standing under the place where this clay bitch shot you, with all of your friends to see. Of course she isn't! Gods, who's fucking stupider, you or that wimpy wolf?! The voice was thunderous inside his skull, and it ached. __She's going back to her world… he realized. He felt himself sadden. His grip went slack around the falsely constructed body._

                She peered up at him with eerily cold, perpetual eyes. "Inu-Yasha…." Those eyes alone were so different from Kagome's; hers were full of laughter and light…and love….

                Love?

                The hanyou gave an involuntary shudder as the girl's gaze continued to stone-stare through his eyes. The way she said his name gave him a strangely, sick knotted feeling in his heart and stomach, though, now that he thought back, this wasn't the first time. 

Kagome never made him feel that way.

Inu-Yasha tried to divorce himself from her embrace…. "Kikyo, I…I must go." He began to move away from her, the arms outstretched and reaching, as if to drag him somewhere.

                Well, she had attempted to drag him to Hell before…Kagome had stopped her from leading him away. He hadn't been ready, he wasn't ready to die and leave this world, leave—

                Insight that Kikyo was willing to rip him away from his second chance in life, to repent and learn, sent a shiver down his spine. A frigid one.

                "Inu-Yasha," she repeated; her voice that still, near unvoiced, unsettling, dead serenity…Kagome's voice was filled with all the emotions in all different tints, tones, and shades. "Why?"

                Why? Because Kagome was going to leave! He had hurt her! He'd sworn never to bring harm to her always to…to…protect her…. 

                _But, why? Why do I care how she feels for me? Why do I act so…lovesick when she's not here, where she belongs, with everyone? With me. It consciously dawned on him. Breaking past all of his barriers and defenses he'd ever created, they all crumbled at the realization. __I…I can't let her go!_

She always felt so warm up against him, especially when she'd fall into slumber, her head lolled on his shoulder. Kagome trusted him. 

She smelled nice and sweet, like the temple incense and the herbs she used, but also like so many other things that were intangible. Kagome was like spring rain, like breath. 

She felt so many emotions freely, even teaching him how to care…how to love and trust. Hell she was the only person he'd ever known that was as stubborn as he was! And she even shed tears for him when no one else, _no one_, had cried for him since his mother passed away when he was a pup. Kagome showed compassion, rage, not exclusively melancholy feelings….

She'd been ripped out of her era, far from anything she'd known. He'd been an ass to her, regardless she had been the one to set him free, and he was constantly putting her into danger! But she always came back to him, no matter what…she said it was her decision that kept her here…. Kagome was…what made his heart beat.

_Kagome…. Kagome! I need to get to her! I need to see Kagome! _"There's something I must do…."

"What?" her mournful, almost guilt-inducing voice asked again, although her gray-ashen orbs revealed that she was clearly livid.

Inu-Yasha smiled to himself. "I came to a revelation." With that he jumped into the air, and flew off to the Bone-Eater's Well, leaving the disgruntled priestess far behind and below him. _Don't leave yet, Kagome. I need to tell you before I lose my nerve. I am an utter fool for not admitting it sooner…._

Kagome had just reached the Bone-Eater's Well, and she was leaning over the lip of it. She sighed, her eyes soft and grave from heartache. _I'm just going to take a breather. I'll come back with more supplies; Inu-Yasha has made up his mind…though I thought…. _She stopped, pressing a hand to her lips. _Though I thought, after I kissed him in the battle with Kaguya, and Naraku was revived by Kagura and Kanna…he loved me in return…. He had kissed me back…._

The sound of crunching leaves reached her ears. Kagome slowly whirled around, sensing him just before she saw him. Quietly, she whispered, "Inu-Yasha…."

  __

 He'd been flying faster than he'd ever done in his entire life. There was no way he was going to let her go back to her strange world without knowing how he felt, damn it! Inu-Yasha quickened the pace, the pounding tattoo of his heart in his throat. He kept urging himself on. _Kagome, I always have known this, that I had made a choice long ago. I've always known my true path, but loneliness is consuming…. _

Then Inu-Yasha saw her. She was still at the Well, she hadn't left yet. He landed a few feet at the rear of her._ Turn around, Kagome. PLEASE, turn around. Almost psychically, she understood and spun around, her face the saddest he'd ever seen it. Perhaps once before her visage had been so cheerless, when he'd protected Kikyo, and had been arguing with himself to breakup with Kagome. That was the day that _he_ came to the Bone-Eater's Well to find _her_ sitting there, asking to stay with him. _

She said his name, and he became aware that this was his big shot. It was now or never.

"Kagome," he murmured tenderly.

"What is it, Inu-Yasha?" she queried tersely, resting her bottom on the edge of the Well. "I was going to go back for a while. What are you doing here?"

"Listen, Kagome," he took a deep breath, he couldn't blame her for sounding suspicious and surprised, or her eyes being so scrutinizing, "I came here to tell you something very important."

"If it's about Shikon shards—"

"Damn it, Kagome! Will you shut up and listen to me!" he yelled in exasperation and she quickly shut her mouth. "This isn't easy for me to say!" He took in another breath. "This has nothing to do with shards," he said calmly. "The subject is much more important."

She nodded, deafly, her eyes wide. "All right, then. Tell me."

Inu-Yasha closed the space between them, and got down on his haunches, looking up at her. "Kagome, for a long while I've been thinking. It's nearly been a year since we met. That day, you gave me my life. No, you didn't revive me, per say, it's like you gave me a life worth living. I've learned so much from you. You are the first person to fully accept me as a hanyou. When I awoke from Kikyo's spell, it was to hear your faint scream for help, and unwittingly, I obliged. Kagome," he drew another breath in, his heartbeat rapid and loud, deafening in his sensitive ears, "you remember when I first wanted the Shikon no Tama from you, after I destroyed Mistress Centipede?"

"Yes," she mellifluously whispered.

"I could've killed then, you know," he said; the tone still serene. He waited as she nodded her acknowledgement. "I didn't want to kill you. I only wanted to scare you into giving me the Jewel. I had no intent whatsoever in harming you. Do you know why?"

She shook her head. "N-no."

"Dog-demons can tell things by scent; that is how they choose their mates. But, if there is something that causes a dog-demon severe trauma, they will take whatever company they can get, for the most part. That is how I was. I wanted nothing to do with anyone after my mother passed away. When I found Kikyo, she was the first person in over a hundred years that had even spoken to me civilly. I was so lonely, and I just wanted to be accepted…so badly." Inu-Yasha bowed his head, hating to have to admit weakness, but he knew this was the only way. His amber gaze rested on the girl again. "I'm over one-hundred-twenty-years-old, Kagome. That's without the enchantment. Um…when I met you, I knew it, but I didn't want it. I didn't want to be hurt again."

"You knew it?" Kagome echoed back. _Inu-Yasha…just what are you trying to say?_

"Yeah, I knew it. The first time I really thought I was going to watch your soul fly off with Shippo's, I got scared. I realized it then. That's why, when you saw me in my human form for the first time, I told you I thought you smelled kind of nice…and that I had lied." He paused to breathe slowly catching her sweet scent, still peering into the loving eyes of Kagome. "Even after Urasue gave that bitch Kikyo a reconstructed body…I still did. I felt guilty…."

_He…he just insulted Kikyo! _"Inu-Yasha, you said that you didn't think you should enjoy anything happy," Kagome whispered, leaning towards him a bit.

"I didn't think I deserved my life. Kikyo had followed after me in death and was brought back into this world without her consent, but it came to me today. Had we not been tricked by Naraku, I would be a human...I see now that she was ashamed of me, and that was why she wished to make me human…. For her convenience. That was not love…. More importantly though, you would've never existed, Kagome." He closed his eyes, before opening them again, the smallest droplet sliding down his cheek. "And that thought chills me."

_Inu-Yasha…. _Kagome's heart thudded painfully against her ribs in anxiety, searching his expression, and her seat of emotion identifying it. Reaching out, she ran her fingers through the beams of silver hair, sliding them down the side of his face; her pinky finger tracing over his lips.

An Autumnal zephyr blew through the trees of the Forest of Inu-Yasha, leaves drifting down around them. The sky was gentle periwinkle; flowers dotted in the grass swayed, some petals catching loose and joining a dance with the leaves. This moment in time was frozen. The fire of the hanyou's eyes mixed with the tranquility of the young priestess's gaze stopped everything long enough for Inu-Yasha to get on one knee, and draw Kagome into him by grabbing her on the elbow as he leaned toward her.

There, at the Bone-Eater's Well, the place that they had fought, laughed, cried, yet it dutifully had brought them together without fail; he kissed her on her warm, crimson lips.

It was a chaste kiss, but a heartfelt kiss. 

Taking her hands in one of his, he drew her off the edge of the Well to her knees, where she sat staring at him in shock, her eyes coated with tears. "Inu-Yasha…?"

He smiled gently at her, cupping her cheek in his rough, calloused palm; he wondered, for a short moment, whether it was right for a half-demon to try and love a priestess, but when he saw Kagome's face, tear stained, all of her features etched carefully by love, he wouldn't be able to permit himself otherwise. "Kagome, I love you."

Her eyes grew wider, as more tears spilled over her dark lashes. "B-but…Kikyo…" she choked out.

Inu-Yasha shook his head. "No. Not Kikyo. I was infatuated with her, and I kept blaming myself for her defects, but it isn't my fault. All I want for her now is peace. I love you, Kagome. You're the person that makes my life worth anything; you're the person I dream about as I sleep." He squeezed her hands with his. The one at her cheek brushed her tears away with clawed finger, treating her with the utmost tenderness. "I want to be able to protect always. For the rest of my life. If you will let me."

Shaking from all the emotions pumping in her veins, Kagome threw herself into his chest. She hastily freed her arms and wrapped them around him. "I love you, too, Inu-Yasha. I love you so much…. I want to stay by your side and take care of you." She peered up at him, tearfully smiling, cobalt orbs still watering, "I want you to protect me…just as you do now."

Inu-Yasha wrapped his arms around Kagome, holding her tightly against him, never wanting to let her go, even as the sun began to set, streaking hues of red, pink, orange, and gold, he wouldn't. And when Kagome lifted her head and kissed him, and they sat there, in each other's embrace, sharing the most passionate kiss that delved down to the heart and soul, Inu-Yasha was sure that with this girl sworn to him, and he to her, he would be able to fly into the unknown future.

_Kagome, I'll love you now, I'll love you later, and I loved you before and even after I die, my reincarnation will love yours…I promise I will protect you for eternity…I swear it._  

                                                                                ~*Fin*~

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: All right, you know the drill. Please review. My e-mail is: hanyou_miko_dreamer@hotmail.com I love e-mail. My AIM is hanyoumiko and my MSN IM is the same as my e-mail. Feel free to write and/or chitchat with me. Ok, well tell me what you think. This might become a spot for one-shots. 

Ja ne,

~Moonlight Shadow

Japanese used:

hanyou—half-demon

Shikon no Tama—obviously another name for the Shikon Jewel, Jewel of Four Souls, etc… 

                


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